WBAL-TV fired a producer-reporter yesterday for altering a video in such a way as to put false and potentially inflammatory words into the mouth of Fox News anchor John Gibson.
The video that was doctored by John Sanders, who covered technology issues and produced promotional videos for Baltimore's NBC affiliate, became a viral sensation last week after the Huffington Post presented it as authentic.
Driving the video's popularity is the nature of the words that Sanders inserted and their potential racial and political implications. Sanders took the voice track of another Fox anchor who had been talking on-air about a runaway monkey and using the words "bright blue scrotum" to describe a distinguishing characteristic of the animal, and edited them into a video of Gibson talking about Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr., the first African-American to hold the Cabinet post. Sanders said he thought the edited video "would sound funny."
Beyond the end of Sanders' career at WBAL, the video highlights the lack of verification at popular news Web sites such as the Huffington Post. Like many news aggregate sites, the Post does not employ traditional news reporters but relies mainly on contributions from readers, celebrities and columnists. Sanders' dismissal could also be seen as a cautionary tale for those who think that they can post something on the Internet as a prank for the enjoyment of their friends and that it will go no further.
According to a statement issued by Wanda Draper, director of public affairs for WBAL, Sanders altered the tape and posted it on YouTube "without the prior knowledge or consent" of the Hearst-Argyle-owned NBC affiliate.
"Further, this video does not represent the views of WBAL-TV or Hearst-Argyle Television," the statement said.
Sanders said he made the tape after he heard other anchors on Fox News repeating the phrase "bright blue scrotum" while they reported the monkey story.
"I just kept hearing the phrase 'bright blue scrotum,' and I thought it was hilarious," he said in an interview last week on The B-Cast webcast on Breitbart.tv. "And so I just recorded it."
And then he dubbed the words into Gibson's mouth and put the doctored tape on YouTube, where the Huffington Post picked it up and presented it as authentic.
Here is what Gibson actually said, referring to a topic that was to be discussed on his show: "I'm talking about Eric Holder and his comment that this is a nation of cowards." (The remark by Holder was made in reference to his belief that Americans are afraid to discuss race openly.)
